Archdeacon: The ‘basketball character’ of Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II

A longtime basketball man himself, Ford had both admiration and a bit of awe for what he’d just seen DaRon Holmes II do out on Blackburn Court:

“I see a young man that’s got a lot of basketball character. I don’t know him as a person, but what I mean is — you go out and score four points in the first half and then come back and literally will your team to a victory.”

St. Louis led at halftime, 30-28, in part because Holmes had taken just two shots, made one and twice turned the ball over on travelling calls.

In the second half, he scored 25 points, going 9 for 13 from the field. He had eight more rebounds, three blocked shots, stole the ball once and forced Billiken players to foul him eight times. And he had no turnovers.

His final line in the box score read: 29 points, 14 rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals.

That was enough to propel No. 21 Dayton to its 11th straight victory in what is now a 14-2 season.

“He likes the big moment. He understood what it took to win,” said Ford, the former Kentucky player who’s in his 27th season as a head coach.

As for Holmes “willing” the team, Ford said: “That’s not done in the game, that’s done in practice. That’s done by earning the right to be that guy.

“I think you saw a guy with a lot of character to him — to be able to respond like he did. I see a guy that’s really, really expanded his game. I have a lot of respect for that.”

Nine days earlier, UMass coach Frank Martin had similar thoughts after his team lost 64-60 to the Flyers:

“What DaRon was as a freshman to where he is now as a player, it’s two different human beings.

“Credit Anthony (UD head coach Anthony Grant) for using (him) differently every year he’s been here. That’s coaching and player development. That’s what it’s all about.”

The 6-foot-10 Holmes is leading the Atlantic 10 in scoring with a 19.4 points per game average. He’s third in rebounding, fourth in blocked shots and ninth in field goal percentage.

After the game, Dayton junior guard Kobe Elvis joined Ford and Martin and praised the development he’s seen in the three seasons he’s played alongside Holmes:

“He’s grown tremendously. I’d definitely say he’s become way more of a complete player from me first seeing him on campus, seeing that little, scrawny, small guy. He was more of a pick-and-roll, feed into the post (type guy), whereas now he can stretch the floor and put the ball on the floor. He can isolate. He really makes defenses suffer.”

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

‘On a rampage’

Holmes said some of the Flyers stressed those points to him at halftime Tuesday:

“We had a good locker room talk ... My teammates were telling me: ‘(Saint Louis) is not coming to trap you in the post. Make sure you read it better. Be aggressive. Pass it out, but don’t always look to do that first. Make sure you look to do your thing first.’

“And instead of being like: ‘Do what?’ and arguing. I listened to what they had to say and went out and did what I could to help my team…We went out there and played our butts off.”

At times, Holmes did it with force and other times he did it with flair.

Just 11 seconds into the second half, he took a pass inside from Elvis and, with the Billikens’ 6-foot-9, 265-pound Bradley Ezewiro wrestling with him for position, he fended off the SLU muscleman, wheeled around and dunked to tie the game.

In the first 2:50 of the second half, Holmes score all seven of the Flyers points — on two dunks and a three-pointer from the corner — to give UD a lead it would not relinquish.

In the final six minutes of the game, he scored 16 points.

And no basket was more dramatic than when he stole a Terrence Hargrove pass into the paint and roared back down the court for a break-away, two-handed slam that got the roaring, sold-out crowd on its feet and his teammates loving the exclamation point he’d just put on the game.

“I loved it,” Elvis said. “I hoped he had his tongue out. I love when he does that…. Did you see him staring at everybody on the bench right after that? That’s what we got to see — him being goofy between it all.”

As Holmes remembered it: “I was kind of upset because I was missing my free throws. I was just like on a rampage. I was locked in and I said to myself: ‘I’m gonna dunk as hard as I can!’”

Holmes second-half domination Tuesday followed a similar performance four days earlier at Duquesne when he scored a season-high 33 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a 72-62 Flyers victory.

Holmes said his growth this season has especially been mentally:

“I think I improved the most from the neck up. I’m understanding the game better. I just read the game better and make better decisions and I’m also being a better leader. There comes a point in time where skills get you so far, but you need to read the game and read the other team.”

After Tuesday’s postgame media session, Holmes spoke privately about his growth and agreed with Martin.

Anthony Grant has had a lot to do with it:

“He did a great job working with me — with all of us — over the summer, showing us what we needed to improve on, and we just bought in.

“We have a great bond. (Grant’s) a mentor to all of us. He does a great job as a role model — as a human being — just showing us how to carry ourselves off the court and on it as well.

“I’ve never seen a person like him before in my life.

“He gives us the truth. That’s what a lot of us run from these days. But he makes you see it, makes you hear it.”

Lots of trust

Three seasons ago, Holmes father — DaRon Sr. — talked to me about his son coming to Dayton instead of going to one of the numerous bigger name and Power 5 schools that wanted him — including current Top 25 teams like Kansas, Arizona, Tennessee, Marquette, Ole Miss and Texas Tech:

“Parents and kids have to be able to examine a situation without rose-colored glasses. With Dayton we thought extremely highly of Anthony Grant and Ricardo Greer and the rest of the staff. We thought we could trust what they told us.”

Holmes Sr. talked about following Grant’s career from his days as Florida assistant, through his previous head coaching jobs at VCU and Alabama: “We felt he was a solid honest guy, a real role model. We thought his temperament fit DaRon.”

He thought his son would develop more at UD because he’d have as chance to play and develop on the court as a freshman, instead of just getting 10 minutes a game like he might at some big programs.

Halfway through his third season at UD, Holmes II has started all 85 games the Flyers have played in that time.

DaRon Sr. also talked about the Obi Toppin factor.

“It’s not like DaRon expects to be the next Obi, but we believe Coach Grant has a certain pedigree. He’s worked with a number of NBA talents. He can develop them. Obi just happened to be the latest example. And that was proof positive.

“If your goal is to get to the next level one day, you’re not selling yourself short coming to Dayton and playing for Coach Grant.”

After his media session Tuesday night — where he called Holmes “one of the best players in the country — Grant talked about the way his bond has developed with his big man:

“It’s just knowing who DaRon is.

“He’s a kid where trust is very important to him, relationships are very important to him.

“From the recruiting process through his time here, we’ve been able to build a really good rapport. He trusts us and he understands what he has to do.

“But as far as his growth, his impact, really… I think it’s all him.

“He’s the one who’s gone out and done it.”

He certainly did it in the second half Tuesday night.

Like Ford said, he willed his team to win:

“He has a lot of basketball character.”